4/19/21 Fruitless Imaginations

As a father and husband, who directs your plans? 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 tells us that every thought that does not conform to the work that Jesus did is to be cast aside. Jesus also did nothing of Himself, but only what He and His Father agreed upon to do. How then do any of us believe that our own thoughts or ideas, based on need or circumstances and derived from our own imaginations, are good enough to direct our wives and families to safe, prosperous paths in life?

As a steward of those around you, there will come a time when you stand before Almighty God and give account of those He has entrusted to your care. You will be asked if you provided a safe and clear path for your wife and family to follow, a place where they had every opportunity to become all they could be in Christ. How’s that working for you?

Have you done or are you doing everything that you can for their best interests? Have you determined in your heart that their stewardship is more important than your job or the things that keep you comfortable? If you haven’t, now might be a good time to reassess whether or not the plans you follow are yours or the Lord’s.

Following His plans and ideas in all things leads to a prosperous life in His eyes. He sees that following your plans is nothing more than flowing in fruitless imaginations. We are told to cast them down as useless, because they have no basis for truth and deny God’s way for you. Whose plans do you choose?

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

Open post

4/16/21 Crying Out for Truth

“Because My Word has been distorted and maligned by self-serving, arrogant heralds of foolishness and false prophets, I have brought a famine of it in your land. I have withdrawn its nourishment from those who do not crave it with all of their hearts. Only those who hunger after truth will now be comforted. Only those who crucify their flesh will be able to be trusted to carry My Word to the hungry and needy. For too long those who have been building cathedrals for themselves, mansions for their flesh, and ministries for their egos, have sought My Word only to conform it to their agendas and self-elevating missions, rather than teach My people to come to Me to find truth. I have put a halt to their folly. Only the foolish will soon be their followers.

"My remnant has been crying out for truth in a land where little truth is to be found. My holy people have been unable to find where the life of My Word is imparted. They have wandered from place to place, from teacher to teacher, only to find cold, dead words from cold, dead fools. Now I am about to raise up trusted vessels as guides to Me and My heart. Our intimacy has taught them My heart from My mouth. They have cast aside their own motives and have learned of My desires. They will lead My people to Me, not to their missions.

"While most of My church starves on predigested food from cold preachers and malnourished teachers, you, My remnant, will feast on fresh manna from My heart at all times. Your famine is over. Because you have craved only Me and My truth, as you come to Me, I will feed you directly. Take what I give you personally and eat, then nourish others who are starving. Hold them close until they are well-fed from My hand. Teach them to come to Me to find rich nourishment for themselves. I will then give them enough to give away to others.”

 Jeremiah 2:13 NIV

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 NIV

13) “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,

14) if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Amos 8:11-12 AMP 

11) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but [a famine] for hearing the words of the Lord.

12) And [the people] shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord [inquiring for and requiring it as one requires food], but shall not find it.

 

How many people have you heard say that they can no longer find true words in the fellowships they have been attending? How many sincere, remnant believers have spoken of their discouragement in finding a strong, convicting Word of truth spoken from the pulpit from broken pastors who only desire to spend time with their Lord? How many times have you walked away from your fellowship or from so-called Christians, empty and starving? The Lord has sent a famine in our land to cause a separation in His church. He is calling out those who are tired of playing church and desire only Him and His truth. In their hunger, they have begun to seek God for themselves instead of having others do it for them. To them, He has been found.

In Hosea 4:6 AMP it reads: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you, [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God…”  The mantle of anointing has been taken from teachers of the Word who do not crave only God, and spew only self-taught knowledge to their flock. Their words fall ineffectively to the ground at their feet. Those who do not have a priority of intimacy with God will soon find themselves without food enough to eat, much less enough to give away.

Famine causes hunger. Hunger initiates the search for food. The more you are hungry, the more food becomes a priority. The true remnant church is hungry for the food of His Word. We are becoming hungry enough to make our search for His Word our only priority. It will only come from Him directly, or from those instruments who seek to be like Him, spending enough time with Him to know His heart. Thank God that He devises means to draw us to Him!

Take me there, Lord,

Jim Corbett

4/16/21 Serving Others with Brothers We Trust

One of the most outstanding aspects of David’s life is the caliber of men God gave him. Knowing the battles he was about to encounter, God gave David mighty men of valor, well-trained in their respective roles and trustworthy unto death. As you read the accounts of their feats, there is no question about their prowess. As David’s life unfolds, what also becomes strikingly clear is that these mighty men were devoted to him and he was devoted to them. Combined with the presence of the Lord that was upon them, this arrangement was unbeatable. It was a three-way covenant relationship.

Today, that kind of brotherhood seems non-existent, except in motorcycle or street gangs. It is glaringly absent in the church. In a time when having your back covered could make the difference between the life or death of you and your family, I challenge any of you to find that kind of camaraderie - someone you know who’s there for you, even unto death. If you can find him, (other than Jesus Himself, of course,) you are truly blessed.

In the Word, Jesus uses the term “brother” or “brethren” as a premier example of a close bond. These terms were used at a time when family and covenant bond really meant something, unlike today’s fractured world. I am convinced that God is raising up holy alliances of men, joined in the brotherhood of Christ and designed to accomplish mighty feats for the Lord just as in David’s time. These men - washed in the blood of Jesus, refined by the fires of adversity, broken under the weight of extreme challenges, and rebuilt by the Holy Spirit until they are trustworthy before God and trustworthy toward others - are on the threshold of joining with one another to accomplish God-given tasks.

Together they will tear down spiritual strongholds and overcome insurmountable challenges through the power of the Holy Spirit. Available only to God and committed to one another, they will walk together above the spirit of the world as an unbeatable force of holy, mighty men on a mission for our Lord.

Are you submitting to God’s training to be a brother of consequence?  If you are not, you will be set on the sidelines as others participate in some of the most exciting adventures the Lord has ever had available in the darkest of times, times when He needs those He can trust.

Let’s talk more!

Jim Corbett

Open post

4/15/21 Don’t Carry the Weight

“Place all your fears, your needs, and your cares upon Me. Give them all to Me because I really care for you and will carry the weight of them for you. It is your right to do so, because of what Jesus has done for you at the cross. It is not right for you to carry the load and the pressure yourself. Your doing so is pride. It is actually a rebellion against your submission to Me. Once you really understand your desperate need of Me, and humble yourself enough to accept My help instead of handling things yourself, you will be forever free. It is My desire for you to flow in the freedom of submission that has been earned for you through Jesus.”

Ps. 55:22 AMP

Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).

1 Peter 5:6-7 AMP 

6) Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you.

7) Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

 

It is most difficult for us to understand that in complete submission, we are totally free. It is also difficult for us to understand that carrying the load of our needs is sin if we say that we have submitted our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is rebellion, and a lack of trust in the Lord to be faithful to carry them for us.

Charles G. Trumbull wrote: “Worry is sin, a black murderous, God-defying, Christ-rejecting sin. It is a sin to worry about anything, anytime, whatsoever. We will never know the victory over worry and anxiety until we begin to treat it as sin. For such it is. It is a deep-seated distrust of the Father, Who assures us again and again that even the falling sparrow is in His charge.”

Forgive my sin, Lord,

Jim Corbett

4/15/21 This Life

What if this life is about nothing more than to prepare those who are going to spend eternity with God and those who aren't? What if God had no other plan but whatever is needed for the eternities, and was simply using this time we call our lives as a qualification process for what we are going to do then? What if mankind added all of the other stuff and made it important when God never intended for us to focus one moment on the things we hold dear?

Let's say that God placed mankind on this planet to first of all, know Him, and then to divide those who decide to serve Him from those who choose not to. Let's say that's all there is to it, nothing more. If that were the case, then everything else – everything - is made important by the will of man, not by God.

Entertainment would not have taken the place of complete happiness in the presence of God. Striving to work to provide for our needs would not be necessary because God, in His rightful place, would be our all provider. There would be no fears even from those who choose not to serve Him, because our reliance would be on His protection. Even if we were harmed, He would be our healer, or we would die and simply be with Him - our life's goal. His plan for us would be complete and our trust in that plan would bring total joy to those around us as we represent Jesus.

Fathers and husbands, how are you preparing those who are watching your life so that they know how to function? Whose plan for real life are you representing? What are you doing to be able to bring clear direction for your family? If you are a blind guide, an ability to see clearly is found in Jesus and His ways. He is waiting for you to come to Him for new life to give to others. Are your eyes and heart open?

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

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